Jason Kitzmiller and his A.L.L. Construction Racing team invade Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway hoping for a grand slam performance in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series General Tire 200.
Kitzmiller now a seasoned veteran on the ARCA tour will make his fourth start at the 2.66-mile superspeedway in the third race of the season with the family-owned team looking to duplicate or better their performance from the 2020 season when Kitzmiller earned his first career top-10 finish in just his second series start.
Returning to the tour for his part-time schedule this season at Talladega, Kitzmiller is armed with the same No. 97 A.L.L. Construction Chevrolet that he qualified a career-best third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February, led 14 laps and landed a respectable lead-lap 19th place finish.
“I’m glad to be back on the ARCA tour this weekend at Talladega,” said Kitzmiller. “We really started our part-time season on a high note by qualifying third but near the end of the race we got shuffled out and just didn’t have enough laps to recover. We were fast. Fast enough to win the race and we showed it by leading 14 laps. Things didn’t turn out like we wanted, but we’re back.
“Thankfully, the car was pretty much intact and we have spent the last two months massaging our No. 97 A.L.L. Construction Chevrolet getting ready for 76 laps of battle on Saturday.”
With a 12th-place average at Talladega and no finish worse than 15th, the Petersburg, West Virginia native has often seen the famed Alabama superspeedway as one of his better tracks on the circuit and he is eager to continue that statistic this weekend.
“Talladega is the site of my first career top-10 finish in ARCA,” Kitzmiller recalled. “It was during 2020 and in the prime of COVID-19, so we probably did not get to celebrate our achievement in the way that we wanted to.
“Having the opportunity to return to Talladega and make memories by turning laps and hopefully putting ourselves in a position to deliver a strong finish will be exactly what our team needs as we head into the summer.
“I have Timmy (Fedewa, spotter) on the roof this weekend and he will be my eyes and ears. He’s one of the best in the business. If I just stay focused, make sure I don’t put myself in a bad position, I think he will do what he can to put us in a prime place to make noise of our own on Saturday.”
With a stack of top-10 finishes to his credit, Kitzmiller says he would like to see his Todd Myers-led team in a spot to earn their first top-five finish during their limited schedule this season.
“We have the speed, we just need the luck,” admitted Kitzmiller. “We’ve found ourselves in a position to be better than our best and something develops that takes us out of contention. Hopefully, we have paid our dues over the years and the dots can connect as we aim to have a strong season with our A.L.L. Construction Racing team.”
In addition to the ARCA Menards Series, A.L.L. Construction Racing will also participate in select Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour Series events.
“I am really looking forward to our 2023 season,” sounded Kitzmiller. “Between the ARCA Menards Series and the CARS Tour, I think we can not only have some fun but find ourselves in a position to win some races.”
Since 2020, Kitzmiller has 18 ARCA Menards Series starts to his credit with four top-10 finishes overall, including a career-best eighth-place finish twice at Talladega Superspeedway (April 2020) and Michigan International Speedway (August 2020) respectively.
The General Tire 200 (76 laps | 202 miles) is the third of 20 races on the 2023 ARCA Menards Series schedule in the 71st consecutive ARCA season. Practice begins Fri., April 21 with a one-hour group session from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The field will be set by 2022 ARCA car owner standings. The race is set for the following morning on Sat., Apr. 22 to take the green flag shortly after 11:30 a.m. CT (12:30 p.m. ET). The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM channel 391 | online channel 981) handling the radio waves. ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities.
A.L.L. Construction Racing PR
